Capital letters for cities, states, and countries
Every city has a name. So does every state. So does every country. All of those names take capital letters.
| Kind of place | Names |
|---|---|
| city | Chicago, Denver, Austin |
| state | Texas, Ohio, Florida |
| country | Mexico, Canada, Japan |
The words in the left column stay small. They are labels for kinds of places. They are not names.
Writing a city with its state
Name a city and a state together and both take capitals.
“Austin, Texas”
The comma sits between them. Commas come in a later course. For now just notice that both names take a capital.
A mistake to watch for
Students sometimes give the capital to the label instead of the name.
“We drove to the City of Denver.” is wrong.
“We drove to the city of Denver.” is right.
The word “city” is telling you what kind of place it is. “Denver” is the name. Only the name gets the capital.
Say which one
Here is a quick way to check. Ask whether the word answers which one?
In “the city of Denver”, the word “Denver” answers which one. The word “city” does not.
Your turn
Write each one correctly.
- “i live in texas”
- “we visited mexico”
- “the city of austin”
Check your answers
- “I live in Texas.”
- “We visited Mexico.”
- “the city of Austin”
Remember
- Cities, states, and countries all take capital letters.
- The label word stays small.
- Ask which one to find the name.